Dilshan to miss third Test against England

London, June 8: Sri Lanka may be trailing Enlang 0-1 in the 3-match Test series, but there's more bad news in the visitors' camp. Lankan captain Tillakaratne Dilshan and man of the match in the second Test, is almost certain to miss the third Test against England starting next week after fracturing his right thumb.

Dilshan got hurt while scoring 193 in Sri Lanka's first-innings 479 all out, and the injury was so severe that he neither fielded nor opened the batting on Tuesday's final day and may have to sit out the June 16-20 Test at The Rose Bowl.

"At the moment, I believe I'm going to miss the last test match but we'll see over the next couple of days," Dilshan said. "We have 10 days until the next test match. The doctors advise to rest three to four weeks, but we'll see how we go."

With Kumar Sangakkara failing again on Tuesday and averaging 26.60 in eight innings in England, compared to an overall average of almost double that, Dilshan's injury could rob Sri Lanka of much of its batting ability.

Dilshan was struck twice by Chris Tremlett on the thumb on his bottom hand during his innings.

On Saturday, he was hit when on 55, but still managed to set a Test career best the following day before Tremlett struck him again, bending his already taped thumb.

Dilshan added only one more run before falling for by far the highest score in Sri Lanka's 479 innings.

"I'm really happy I performed after Cardiff," Dilshan said. "I'm really enjoying the way I'm batting now." He would only have batted again Tuesday if his side had lost its nine other wickets and was trying to save the match. Oneindia Cricket